My Commodore 64 disk drive started smoking during a BASIC demo last night

I was showing my nephew how to load a game from a 5.25 inch floppy and suddenly smoke came out the side of the 1541 drive. Slapped it off real quick and unplugged everything, but now I'm scared to turn it back on. This happened around 9pm Wednesday and I spent the next hour opening it up to see if anything smelled burnt. Found a capacitor that looked a little puffy near the power connector. Has anyone else had a drive just give out on them mid use like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

andrew_miller907d ago

Drove started smoking during a BASIC demo" - man that's rough. I fried a 1541 once loading a game of Jumpman, smelled like burning plastic and regret for a week. That puffy cap near the power connector is probably toast, I'd replace it before even thinking about plugging it back in. Learned that lesson the hard way when I just swapped in a new drive and blew that one up too because I didn't fix the power supply first.

the_elliot7d ago

Huh, I dunno man. I've swapped drives without touching the power supply before and been fine. Usually the brick itself is pretty bulletproof, it's the drive's voltage regulator that craps out first. Worth checking the PSU with a multimeter before replacing parts you might not need.

noranguyen1d ago

the_elliot has a point about the PSU sometimes being fine, but man, those old Commodore bricks are known for drifting voltage over time. I've seen a 5V rail read 5.8V before, which is plenty to fry a regulator instantly. Multimeter is good advice, but that puffy cap is a dead giveaway something already cooked, so I'd still replace it as insurance. Pull the old cap, check its ratings, and match with a 105c rated one from a known brand, not some no-name eBay lot.